Posted in: Workouts / Goal Setting

Advice for rest/recovery

Hey guys! I'm pretty much a beginner after many years of being pretty casual/inconsistent. I feel like I'm ready to be dedicated to my physical fitness now, and I think I've been good about listening to my body, rescheduling workouts and taking extra rest when I need. Just today I was supposed to do a "brutal abs" routine as part of #fbabs but realized I was still quite sore and tired from yesterday and subbed in a nice 30 minute pilates/stretching session. So hopefully I'm building a good foundation. :)

My question is more thinking ahead to when some of these activities become easier for me. I am doing FB along with twice a week in-studio yoga classes. These aren't intense hot yoga or even a lot of continuous vinyasa flow, but more thoughtful, alignment-based postures and sequences. It's still a workout for me today, but I imagine in the future they will make a good "active recovery" activity.

So my question is, is it OK to do a workout or active recovery activity every day, or should I really protect at least one day a week as true rest, with nothing more than walking?

A schedule I am considering would be:

4 days/week of true workout - strength, hiit, cardio, etc

2 days/week yoga classes

1 day/week fairly moderate run/hike

Is that too much, or, when I reach a certain fitness level is it ok given that it would be essentially three days of active recovery?

I guess my other option would be to do one of my "true workout" days on the same day as a yoga practice, but then time becomes an issue. I will try to do that if it's a much better way to go.

Interested in your thoughts! Thanks :))